Buckle construction



OCL 17 1961 c. J. scHUHMANN 3,004,316

BUCKLE CONSTRUCTION Filed March 24, 1960 a @gif/#1@ /f/ A il ll/ll /fe /lf UnitedStates Patent O 3,004,316 BUCKLE CONSTRUCTION Christian J. Schuhmann, Palisades, p NJ., assignor to Essex Metal Products Company, West New York, NJ.,

a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 24, 1960, Ser.- No. 17,392 7 Claims. (Cl. 24-75) This invention relates to separable fasteners and more particularly is directed to such fasteners adapted for use as an improved buckle for use with belts, straps and the like.

Among the objects of the invention is to generally improve buckles of the character described which shall comprise few and simple parts, which shall be easily assembled with belts and straps to form stylish clothing accessories, which shall be particularly adaptable for relatively low cost quantity production by stamping from sheet metal stock, which buckle shall include mating halves each formed with an integral decorative panel terminating on one end in an element of a novel male and female interlocking means, which interlocking means shall facilitate the joining together and separating of the buckle mating halves by the wearer, which decorative panel shall provide for a wide variety of designs, which shall be rugged in construction and capable of withstanding rough usage, and which shall be etlicient and practical to a high degree in use.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists of features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exempliiied in the constructions hereinafter disclosed, the scope of the applicationrof which will be indicated in the claims following: p

In the accompanying drawing in which various illustrative embodiments of the invention are shown:

FIG. l is a fragmentary top plan view of a belt and buckle constructed to embody the invention showing the buckle in closed position.

FIG. 1A is a top plan View of the buckle similar to FIG. l but showing the mating halves separated and in relative position ready for interengagement of the novel connecting means.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational View of the belt and buckle shown in FIG. l.

FIG. 3 is a perspective View of the buckle shown in FIGS. l and 2 but with the mating halves separated.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of the buckle shown in FIGS. l and 2, with parts broken away to show underlying structure, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of the invention taken similar to FIG. 3.

Referring inV detail to the drawing, denotes a belt and buckle constructed to embody the invention compris- Iing a body encircling belt 11, shown fragmentarily in FIGS. l and 2 and a decorative buckle 12. Belt 11 may be formed of any suitable material such as leather, imitation leather, vinyl, woven cotton or synthetic elastic web or the like material, here shown having substantially the same width as buckle 12 and having opposite end loops 11a and 11b for attaching to buckle 12. Loop 11a may be permanently attached to bar 14C while loop 11b attached to bar 13e may be provided with any well lknown belt length adjusting means, such as, spaced snap fasteners Buckle 12 as clearly shown in FIG. 3 comprises two mating halves or members, a male member 13 and a female member 14, each being formed, as by a stamping, as a unitary structure from sheet metal stock. Members 13 and -14 each have a central area or body portion 13a Mice and 14a, respectively, which may be embossed or otherwise decorated with ornamentation D. Body portions 13a and 14a when buckle 12 is in a closed, that is, in interconnected, position lie substantially in the same plane separated by a novel interconnecting means or post 12a. Post 12a as is clear from FIGS. l and 2, is split transversely into three sections; a central section 14b extending from and integrally formed with female body portions 14a and top and bottom sections 13b extending from and integrally formed with male body portion 13a.

Referring to FIG. 3, members 13 and 14 will be seen to have body portions 13a and 14a carrying belt loop attachment bars 13e and 14C and interconnecting post sections 13b and 14b, respectively, arranged as mirror images of each other, that is, as left and right elements respectively, of buckle 12, bars 13e and 14C being attached at opposite ends thereof to body portions 13a and 14a by rearwardly bent ears 13d and 14d, respectively, which alsov serve as retaining guides between the buckle members and belt 11.

A novel separable interconnection is formed in conjunction with post 12a. To this end, sections 13b and 14b are seen from FIGS. l and 3 to be arcuate in cross section substantially to a semi-circular degree, sections 13b terminating in end flanges 13e which lie substantially in the plane of body portion 13a. Section 14b also terminates in a ilange 14e extending substantially in the plane of body portion 14a, flange 14e extending laterally on both sides of section 14b to the width of body portion 14a and having a pair of integrally formed lateral portions or wings 14f extending arcuately from said lateral extensions of flange 14e toward body portion 14a and terminating short thereof to form spaced slots 14g for receiving anges 13e of sections 13b. Wings 141 are seen to be depressed with respect to post section 14b sufiiciently to accommodate post sections 13b of male member 13 iny overlying relation thereto and in alignment with post section 14b when the members are interconnected.

As shown in FIGS. l and 3 members 13 and 14 instead of being flat may be slightly curved longitudinally in a conventional manner to more closely conform to the contour of a Wearers body. Accordingly, references both in the specification and the claims following to parts lying in substantially the same plane are to be considered in a broad aspect to allow for said longitudinal curvature.

The operation of buckle 12 will now be apparent. After male and female members 13 and 14 have been attached to opposite ends of belt 11 and the latter preformedor adjusted to a proper length, belt and buckle 10 may be readily put on by the wearer by encircling the belt 11 about the body and simply holding the members 13 and-14 at an angle to each other as shown in FIG. lA, inserting anges 13e into slots 14g as indicated by the arrow and then bringing members 13 and 14 into a normal alignment, that is, to lie inisubstantially the same plane as shown in FIG. l. In this normal align- -ment position sections 13b and 14b form a complete interconnecting post 12a which somewhat resembles a hinge pivot post in appearance. As will be clear from FIG. l, the interconnection eifected by post 12a retains members 13 and -14 against separation under ordinary tension stress exerted by belt 11. Thus the free edges of wings 14f bordering slots 14g engage the rear sides of sections 13b cooperating with the other edges of slots 14g along body portion 1li-a Which engage end flanges 13e and retain the parts in interlocking relation. To open buckle 12, members 13 and 14 are simply reoriented from the normal position shown in FIG. l to the angular relation shown in FIG. 1A so that flanges 13e slip out from slots 14g.

FIG. 5 shows a modified form of the invention as buckle 22 having male and female members 23 and 24 formed with body portions 23a and 24a carrying belt loop attaching bars 23C and 2.4 0 and bent ears 23d and 24d, respectively, similar to the equivalent parts of buckle 1 2. Instead of the separable.interconnection having the dcuble sections on the-male member and a single section on the female member as in buckle l2, modified buckle 2,2 has the male body portion 23a carrying a single centrally located section 23h terminating in an end flange 23e. Likewise, female body portion 24a is formed with double spaced sections Zlib which terminate in a connecting flange 24e and with a centrally located arcuate wing 24f extending from flange 24e toward body portion 24a and terminating short thereof to provide a single slot 24g for receiving flange 23e. Buckle 22 as will be apparent, operates ink substantially the same manner as buckle 1 2 as hereinbefore fully described.

Although it may be preferable for appearance sake t provide sections 1411 and 24h as shown in the drawings, as arcuately convex toI conform to the configuration cf male sections 13b and 23b, it is to be understood that Within the scope of the invention such female sections may also be of other suitable configuration, such as for example, flat, that is, as a planar extension of body `por-V tions Ma and 24a, or concave.

It is thus seen that there are provided improved buckle constructions whereby the several objects of this invention are achieved and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matters herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing are to be interpreted as illustrative and'not'in a limiting sense.

Having thus describedmy invention7 I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. A buckle of the character described comprising a pair of members each having a centrally disposed body portion between an integral loop attachment bar and an element of a separable male and female fastener component forming a sectionalized post extending transversely between said body portions when said members are interconnected, said male fastener component extending from the male body portion as an arcuate section of said post terminating in an end flange, said female fastener component extending from the female bodyl portion as an arcuate section of said post in offset alternate relation to said male arcuate section, said female arcuate section terminating in an end flange having a lateral extension carrying a'wing extending toward said female body portion and terminating short thereof to form a slot located and sized for receiving said male end flange when the members are interconnected.

2. The buckle defined in claim 1 in which said male component has a plurality of said arcuate sections spaced from each other, each of the sections having an end flange, said female arcuate section being locatedvand sized Vto fit betweentwo of said male sections, said female end flange having the lateral extension on both sides o f said female section with each extension carrying a wing and forming a slot for each of said male end flanges.

3. The buckle defined in claim l in which said female component is formed with a plurality of said arcuate sections spaced from each other and connected by said end flange, said lateral flange extension carrying said wing and forming said slot being located between said arcuate sections.

4. A buckle of the character described comprising a pair of members each formed from sheet metal as an integral unit having a centrally disposed body portion between a loop attachment bar and an element of a separable male and female fastener component forming a sectionalized post extending transversely between said body portions when said members are interconnected, said female fastener Component having a transverse slot for-med bet-Ween. said bedy portion and a transversely eX- tending flange, a section of said post extending from said body portion and terminating in lsaid flange t locate the flange behind the body portion of the male fastener component carrying member, said male fastener component including a second section of said post adjacent said first section and terminating in a flange extending into said slot.

5. A buckle of the character described comprising a pair of members each having a centrally disposed body portion between an integral loop attachment bar and an element of a separable 'male and female fastener component, said female fastener component having a transverse slot formed between said body portion and a transversely extending flange, said male fastener component including a flange for extending into said slot, said fastener flanges being located behind the body portions of the other respective members when the members are interconnected, said male component flange being formed to terminate an extension piece of convex configuration, and means extending from said female fastener flange and bordering said slot Yto contact a rear side of said male convex extension piece preventing separation of the elements when said body portions are in substantial alignment and permitting separation when said body portions are brought into a predetermined angular relation.

6. The buckle defined in claim 5 in which said male fastener component has a plurality of said convex extension pieces spaced from each other, each of said pieces having a male component flange, said female fastener component having a plurality of said slots, one slot for each of said flanges.

7. A buckle of the character described comprising a pair of members each formed from sheet vmetal as an integral unit having a centrally disposed body portion between a loop attachment bar and an element of a separable male and female fastener component forming a sectionalized post extending transversely between said body portions when said members are inter-connected, said body portions being embossed with ornamentation for said buckle, said male fastener component including a pair of arcuate sections of said post spaced from each other extending from the male body portion and each terminating in an end flange, said female fastener component including a section of said post extending from the female body portion located and sized to fit between Said male sections, said female section terminating in an end flang having lateral extensions on both sides thereof carrying wings extending toward said female body portion and terminating short thereof to form a pair of spaced slots located and sized for receiving said male end flange when the membersy are interconnected, said wings contacting a rear side of said male arcuate sections preventing sepalfation of the interconnected elements when said body Portionsare in substantial alignment and permitting removal of said male flanges from said slots for separation of the members when said body portions are brought into a predetermined angular relation.

References Cited in lthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,030,563 Barnes --.l Feb. 1l,y 1,936 

